The Barcelona Thread

[shayan20]

to be honest with this barca i saw, i would be happy if we get a draw from barca at their stadium.

you would be content to concede less than 5 goals believe me.

Barca was sensational again. Messi is so fuking fast its unbelivable. He plays like a play station football character.
The passing and movements was excellent.
btw Pique is the best defender ever.

[shayan20]

oh shit how could i forget to mention the amazing penalty save of victor valdez. simply brilliant stop.

[EKBATAN]

guys me and shah houman were at the SUPER COPA in camp nou

what an experience...they ruled the game, sevilla looked so amature compared to them and saw messi score a hat trick...ill post pix and videos soon

[JaanevarAjeeb]

Many like to say that Barca = Spain NT, but looking at the scores against opposition, it's really hard to say that. We all witnessed Spain's lack of finishing, winning marginally every game. Messi is simply amazing when he has the support of the Barca MF and DF.

Now with Mascherano at the spine of DM (in place of Yaya last year), and an improved Dani Alvez and Maxwell, IMO this team is even better than last year. It would be interesting to see whether David Villa can put in more goals and assists than Ibra. I really don't understand why Eto'o was sold in such a hurry for Ibra, and why relations iced to sub-zero with Pep..

[Arzhang]

Many like to say that Barca = Spain NT, but looking at the scores against opposition, it's really hard to say that. We all witnessed Spain's lack of finishing, winning marginally every game. Messi is simply amazing when he has the support of the Barca MF and DF.

Now with Mascherano at the spine of DM (in place of Yaya last year), and an improved Dani Alvez and Maxwell, IMO this team is even better than last year. It would be interesting to see whether David Villa can put in more goals and assists than Ibra. I really don't understand why Eto'o was sold in such a hurry for Ibra, and why relations iced to sub-zero with Pep..

I'm also really curious to know what really went down between Pep and Ibra. We all know Ibra is temperamental and has his ego so I wouldn't be surprised if it was somehow initiated by him. Ibra seems to be the one doing all the talking in the press right now, calling Guardiola a "philosopher". I'm sure the real story will leak soon enough.

Barca should be very strong this year. I'm expecting a La Liga trophy, and a semi final spot in the Champions League. David Villa has started to incorporate himself very well into the team (he knows more than half of them) and to the style of play. I think you will see plenty of goals from him. I was never keen on the idea of Mascherano playing for Barca because he is seemingly the anti-Barca with his style of play. But I believe he can make a lot of positive contributions and could turn out to be an indestructible force in our midfield.

In other news, Bojan has been handed the number '9' jersey.

[JaanevarAjeeb]

I'm also really curious to know what really went down between Pep and Ibra. We all know Ibra is temperamental and has his ego so I wouldn't be surprised if it was somehow initiated by him. Ibra seems to be the one doing all the talking in the press right now, calling Guardiola a "philosopher". I'm sure the real story will leak soon enough.
Barca should be very strong this year. I'm expecting a La Liga trophy, and a semi final spot in the Champions League. David Villa has started to incorporate himself very well into the team (he knows more than half of them) and to the style of play. I think you will see plenty of goals from him. I was never keen on the idea of Mascherano playing for Barca because he is seemingly the anti-Barca with his style of play. But I believe he can make a lot of positive contributions and could turn out to be an indestructible force in our midfield.
In other news, Bojan has been handed the number '9' jersey.

The Bojan number re-assignment is great news, but the boy needs to play. I always liked Bojan slightly more than Pedro, but Pedro has moved into the starting eleven since last season and also played in the WC. Ibra prob. wanted assurance, like most players of his calibre, for an important role in Barcelona. This already happened with Henry, Gudjonson, etc. who performed statistically, but still could not escape the substitute role.

As for David Villa, I am sure he will score goals with the quality of service from the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Alvez, Messi, etc. but will he surpass the figures that Ibra put up? 21 goals in total and 10 assists is very impressive for a substitutes' role, and that's with a very critical media and audience (maybe people are comparing him with Eto'o??).

Teams need players like Mascherano to win titles- players who know how to get down and dirty even if it doesn't look glamerous. As examples, you can look at Vieira, Makalele, Camoronesi, etc. who were key in their team title runs. Fitting him in the joga bonito style will be a challenge, but if it works, it will do wonders for Barca and Masherano as a player. He just needs to take a few notes from Toure and Busquets. The fact that Barcelona has world class wing backs who move forward and recover pretty well, will allow Masherano to play more defensively while combining with the already offensive-minded MF. Did he already win the CL with Liverpool?

[shayan20]

apparently, Ibra didn't like how Pep treated him. He asked Pep to treat him like a star like he treats Messi. I heard this in revista de la liga show on sky.

whatever the problem was, we made a financial loss but in footballing world we got an advantage because Villa is so much better.

[toofan]

has villa scored any goals for barca yet? when is their next game?

[shayan20]

^
he scored his first goal against Racing.It was a header.
Next game is against Hercules (promoted from div1) at Camp Nou.

[EKBATAN]

i havent seen any other barca games yet with villa in it beside the one i saw live, but they need to play him up top and pure striker. The game i saw, he was on the wings and u cant maximize his potential there, he didnt look to comfortable there and u could tell he would try to push more in the middle. If they play him up top, he'll most likely be the pichichi this year.

[K.C.I.N.]

I wanted to buy tickets for Real-game today at 10am on barcelona.com
I couldn't load the freakin site! It was down like 2 hours for me
then when I reached the website everything was Sold Out!!!

[JaanevarAjeeb]

It seems like Pep likes the Triangle FW formation, which places Messi at the top of the triangle with 2 WF's supporting him in a deeper role. This is the role that Pedro and Bojan thrive in, and Ibra and Henry did rather well fitting in, even though they preferred to stay up top. It's prob. because Messi is hands down the best finisher in the world. It will be interesting to see whether Villa can put up the numbers like Eto'o, who was and still is excellent.

[toofan]

^
he scored his first goal against Racing.It was a header.
Next game is against Hercules (promoted from div1) at Camp Nou.

i see. should be a goal feast.

[chuck bass]

we already got villa's replacement ready for the day he retires: bojan

this would be my ideal formation:

...........valdes
alves - puyol - pique - abidal
----------busquets
----xavi---------iniesta
pedro/messi - messi/bojan/villa - villa/pedro

[shayan20]

i havent seen any other barca games yet with villa in it beside the one i saw live, but they need to play him up top and pure striker. The game i saw, he was on the wings and u cant maximize his potential there, he didnt look to comfortable there and u could tell he would try to push more in the middle. If they play him up top, he'll most likely be the pichichi this year.

Villa played on the wing for Spain in WC and he was as deadly as he could be